Eye to Eye
by SpitfireUSN
Summary: When Jay was told he'd be working alongside some of the brightest minds and most talented soldiers, he'd expected... well... not this. He learned quickly that Lion and Doc did not exactly see eye to eye. (working title, bare with me I'm trying to come up with something better)
1. Chapter 1

_**Some of you may know me some of you may not. This is my first fic for R6, but far from my first time writing lol usually I stick to CoD. But, a friend or two of mine dragged me down this rabbit hole and there's so little content that I just had to add yet another AU to my muse's list of AUs. So… here we are…. For those of you who don't know me, I do reviewer shoutouts at the beginning of every chapter to say thank you! No Lion hate pls he's trying ;-; I'm trying to make this a one-shot, but that has never worked out in the past, so we'll see what happens.**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_

When Jay had been told he'd be working alongside some of the brightest minds in medicine the world had to offer, he'd expected… well, not this. He'd expected scientists and doctors way out of his league, he questioned why he was being approached to join said doctors, only to find out that they were part of a larger combat team called Rainbow, it was a counter-terrorism unit. He had expected technology and innovative medicines and treatment techniques. He did not expect… whatever it was the two Frenchmen were yelling at each other. He'd learned, in his short time with Rainbow, that Lion and Doc did not exactly see eye to eye. They argued often and as little French as Jay knew, he could still catch insults being thrown under their breaths.

Lion was with the CBRN threat unit, meaning Jay worked with him, but distantly for the most part, especially compared to Doc, who was the only other actual medic on Rainbow.

He looked to the others in the room for help, another Frenchman, looking annoyed between the two, they'd called him Rook. Rook was apparently a big advocate for team-building and general trust between teammates. Jay liked him, he was a good guy, if a little naive.

A German, ' _Blitz_ ', sighed from next to him, "They're arguing about the 2015 Ebola crisis… _again_ …."

"What happened?" Jay asked curiously, he'd heard rumor about it, but nothing solid.

Blitz shrugged, "Only Doc and Lion know."

Montagne, another man from the GIGN, seemed annoyed as Doc and Lion finally stopped arguing and left in separate directions, "Lion made mistakes, there was an accident and people died, it wasn't directly his fault he was trying to keep people safe. He and Doc were the only survivors. They were off site when it happened. Doc lost friends in the accident and blames Lion for it."

"Oh so am I the only one who didn't already know that?" Blitz questioned.

Montagne shrugged, "You could probably figure it out if you were more fluent in French."

Blitz threw his hands up in frustration, leaving others in the room chuckling. Blitz, apparently was known to exaggerate reactions and stories for the sake of humor. From the stories he'd heard, Blitz also threw around awful jokes in the middle of missions, but was a good man, much like Rook.

The talk moved from Lion and Doc's argument to general banter and the 'getting to know you' game since Jay was still new to the team.

"So," Rook started, "Where are you from, Jay? FBI, SWAT?"

"Delta, actually," Jay answered.

"And how long have you been a field doc?" the French woman, ' _Twitch_ ', asked.

"Five years in the field, studied for three before enlisting."

"That's not very long," Blitz remarked, "Doc has at least twenty years of experience under his belt."

"I never claimed to be the best or most experienced," Jay responded with a small shrug, "I try to stay on top of new developments, but really I'm nothing special."

"Well there's gotta be _something_ you got no one else does," an American, _Thermite_ , commented, "Six has an eye for talent. We'll see soon enough I suppose."

Jay had been warned that Thermite was notoriously… _difficult_. He was a pyromaniac at best and absolutely _refused_ proper personal safety equipment while handling his explosives. Jay could see the evidence of this in many, _many_ burn scars on the man's hands and forearms.

* * *

It was a couple weeks of settling in and meeting the team before Jay was sent out with a team. There was a hostage situation and Rainbow was being called to resolve it.

He was sent with Lion, Montagne, IQ, and Ash. They waited on the perimeter while Lion guided his drone, the EE-One-D, into place above the building. Montagne had happily told Jay that the drone's engineer, the GIGN's own Twitch, had nicknamed the drone ' _Résonner_ ', which was apparently French for Echo. Jay could almost hear Lion roll his eyes at the name. It's callsign was ' _Big Brother_ ', Lion insisted.

"Two guarding the main entrance. Lots of activity, second floor, center room," Lion said bruskly, "One freezing by the window upstairs. The drone is not picking up any other movement." Jay didn't fail to notice Lion pointedly avoiding using the drone's nickname.

Ash crossed her arms and nodded, thinking, "The way I see it we have two options, grapple up to the roof and breach, come in from above and take them off guard, or go in hard and fast through the garage."

"Keep in mind, my drone can only detect people who are moving," Lion reminded, dropping his arm, and the wrist mounted device, back to his side, "There could be many more hiding, the EE-One-D's pulse is not exactly… _quiet_."

Ash nodded at Lion, "IQ, can you scan the garage for explosives from here?"

IQ turned and seemed to judge the distance for a moment before shaking her head, "Nein, I need to be closer to be sure." She answered.

Ash nodded, "We can't risk giving them the warning, we'll go through the roof. Everyone on me, let's go."

They moved quickly, avoiding windows so they wouldn't be seen coming. Once they reached the side of the house they each tossed their grapples to the roof and tested the hold. Before long the were on the roof, kneeling in a circle as Lion scanned with his drone again.

" _Attendez_ ," Lion held up a hand to stop Ash as she moved to place one of Thermite's breaching charges, "They're moving the hostage…" he paused, watching his feed, then pointed at a different section of the roof, "She's there. No other movement detected."

The pulsing from Lion's drone, Jay pointedly called it _Résonner_ in his head, stopped and Lion dropped his hand back to his weapon.

"Alright." Ash set the charge carefully on the flat surface, "IQ scan for traps. Monty and I will go down first. The three of you follow when I give the clear."

IQ flipped open the screen on her wrist and scanned the room below them, "One explosive on the door…. wired to two, make that three, other explosives packages."

"Copy, take 'em out."

IQ raised her pistol, steadying it on her arm with the screen and lined up a shot through the roof. Two bullets later there was an explosion, "Room clear."

Ash triggered the breaching charge and Montagne dropped first, shield up the moment he hit the floor, pistol drawn to shoot around it. Ash dropped behind him, covering his back with her weapon raised. The dust settled in the room to reveal the destruction from the traps IQ had dealt with.

"Room clear!" Ash called as she and Montagne moved towards the hall.

IQ jumped down and Lion and Jay followed quickly. There had been two men wearing white masks in the room. They had very clearly died when IQ triggered the traps. They filed into the hall behind Montagne with Lion watching their backs.

Jay preferred not to remember the lives that had to be taken in order to save others. His job was saving lives, not taking them, so he let his mind wander. He stared ahead at Montagne's back.

The French operators had been the most welcoming among Rainbow, Rook especially, as he instantly wormed his way into Jay's routine and kept him company when he had nothing else to do. He'd been ushered straight to their 'side' of the barracks, to the bunk above Montange, who snored a little, but Jay didn't mind, his nightmares had been easy on him the past week and he could only blame the noise.

A pat on the shoulder brought him back to the scene, Lion gave him a knowing look and nodded at him. Jay shrugged back and got ready to breach the room the hostage was in.

Ash loaded one of her breaching rounds into its launcher.

They stacked up behind Montagne in the hall in front of a solid wall. Ash shot the breaching round into the wall and it was only a moment before the wall exploded and the team moved forward. There were five quick bursts of fire and then silence.

"Room clear!" Ash called, checking that they'd taken down the Masks in the room.

Jay moved to the woman on her knees in the center and knelt next to her, "Are you injured?" He asked, looking her over quickly. She looked okay aside from dirt and tears staining her face. She shook her head to confirm and Jay nodded, "You're safe now, stay behind me," he instructed, helping her up with a hand on her arm.

"Jay, Lion, get her out of here, IQ, Montagne, on me," Ash ordered, moving back towards the hole they'd blown in the wall, "We'll clear you a path to the front door."

Lion took a moment to scan with his drone again, "At least four in the foyer, more in the garage and dining room."

The pulse stopped and the team moved forward, Jay making sure to keep the hostage safely behind him. Once he found his pace he again retreated into his head, focusing only on keeping the woman safe.

He and Lion made it out the front door with her and they quickly guided her back away from any stray bullets as the rest of the team cleared the house.

Jay made quick, though careful, work of the woman's restraints and she latched on to him, thanking him and Lion repeatedly for saving her, crying through it all.

Jay simply patted her back and assured her that it was over and she was safe.

The others returned before long and Jay took his time fussing over the fact that Montagne had _somehow_ managed to twist his ankle _and_ dislocate his shoulder. He ignored the chuckles and murmurs of ' _mother hen_ ' he would do his job and do it well _dammit_.

* * *

His nightmares continued to go easy on him through the days he was with Rainbow, letting him get a good night's rest, the dark circles under his eyes finally starting to fade.

It was only after a mission gone sideways, well after a hundred days with the team (he'd stopped counting at that point), that they came back full force. Jäger took the brunt of it and was resting in the infirmary under Doc's eye. Jay and Doc took shifts through the night, ensuring the infirmary always had one of them at the ready, and making sure each other got enough sleep at the same time. It was a delicate balance they held, but they managed and Montagne, who had known Doc the longest, often remarked about how much stress Jay had taken off of his overworked friend.

Now, at three in the morning, Jay shot up from his bed with a frightened gasp. He stayed there for a moment, sweating and trying to catch his breath, visibly shaken by the nightmare.

"You okay?" A voice asked quietly from across the way.

Jay looked over at Rook, also sitting up in his bunk. He slept above Doc, or would if Doc were in bed, "Yeah…. I'm fine, sorry to wake you, go back to sleep."

Rook shrugged, "I was already awake, _mon ami_." With that he jumped down, landing silently on the balls of his feet, and gestured for Jay to join him.

The left the barracks and headed towards the rec room, "No offense," Rook started as they walked, "But you're a terrible liar."

Jay just hummed in reply, he knew that already, "Why were you awake?"

Rook shrugged, "Nightmares. Same as you. We all get them." The plopped down on the couch in the rec room and turned the tv on for white noise, "Doc is haunted by the people he was too late to save, Monty about when Le Roc might fail, Twitch and IQ about failing, Bandit doesn't really talk about his, others dream about the lives they've taken, the lives they've failed to save. What about you?"

Jay sighed and stood, he made his way slowly to the coffee pot and started making himself a cup, "A lot of things I guess…" he admitted quietly, "The life I didn't save, the love I lost, what might have been or what might be."

Rook nodded in thanks as Jay passed him a mug and sat back down, "It can be pretty overwhelming… I can tell when Doc's had a bad nightmare like that, leaves him shaken for days, he thinks he hides it, but there's no missing the haunted look in his eyes."

They talked for a while and Jay learned that Rook was an exceptionally light sleeper and that Doc had tried to give him sleeping medicine to help, but it had never worked, so Rook woke up sometimes, and if an operator woke up from a nightmare, he'd keep them company. They talked about less serious things, like how Doc had the thickest accent of all of the GIGN operators, and Jay learned that Parisians were just _"Like That"_ , according to Rook. He was apparently teaching Blitz French, Blitz was apparently determined to learn and master the native languages of every Rainbow operator. Rook offered to teach Jay a little French. Lion joined them before long and they nodded polite greetings to the man as he made himself tea. Jay checked his watch, four-thirty, his shift was in half an hour.

And then Rook asked him about the love he'd lost.

"I…" Jay trailed off, bit his lower lip and lifted a hand to rub at the chain of the dog tags around his neck.

Lion cuffed Rook over the head, "Ignore him," he addressed Jay, "he's too nosy for his own good."

"Ah, sorry," Rook rubbed the back of his head, "I like to help, y'know? You definitely don't have to talk about it, but if you ever want to, I'd be happy to lend an ear."

Jay nodded at him, "I appreciate the offer… And the company." They sat in comfortable silence as Jay finished his coffee and checked the time, "Well, I better go give Doc a break… see you guys around." With that Jay left to take over his shift in the infirmary.

 ** _Whelp. As I expected, this is not going to be a oneshot I seem incapable of writing those ( oneshot writers: how you do the thing?). So. We've established the setting and Jay's place, more or less. We still have a bit to learn about him though, as far as his capabilities and everything. So… I guess I'll see you in the next chapter?_**

 ** _Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher_**

 ** _~Spitfire out_**


	2. Chapter 2

_**And we're back. This chapter will be more interesting since I've got some actual action planned. Thanks to Mr Demeanor and Guest for your reviews, very much appreciated! (Edit: FFn is being rude with the formatting, bare with me while I try to get it fixed)**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_

A month later of consistent nightmares and late night chats with Rook, Jackal, or whoever happened to be up, Jay, Doc, Lion, Jäger, Thermite, and Blitz were assigned to get a bomb disarmed before the White Masks detonated it and ended up destroying half the city. Evacuation was underway, but the Masks had people trapped. Rainbow had to stop the detonation, and if they couldn't, they had to save as many lives as they could.

Jäger flew them in, and brought the helicopter to a hover over the building, where Lion deployed his drone, it fell a few feet before it's rotor caught it and it stabilized with commands from Lion's wrist controller.

"Big Brother in position for overwatch," Lion reported with a nod.

"Alright. Jäger, take us in," Thermite said, standing in the middle of the bay, holding on to a hand strap.

The helicopter landed on the empty street in front of the warehouse and the Rainbow operators piled out.

"Alright," Thermite gathered the operators around him and laid out the floor plan of the building, "we breach through the loading bay and from there it's a standard sweep and clear. We clear each room, corner, nook and cranny until we find that bomb. Lion, can we get a look at what we're dealing with?"

Lion nodded and brought up his wrist controller and the drone began pulsing, "Lots of activity. Patrols all along the bottom floor. Activity in the loading bay, it looks like they're moving something. Second floor offices are busy as well as third floor and roof access. Tagging at least fifty rabbits. There could be more."

"Remember they have hostages," Doc reminded, "We have to be careful. We cannot just fire blindly at anything that moves."

"Our priority should be the bomb, we know nothing about it, it could be a chemical weapon, like they used at Bartlett," Lion dropped his arm back to rest on his knee, "could even be nuclear for all we know!"

"Our _priority is saving lives_ ," Doc argued.

"We don't have time for this!" Jay cut them off, "We stop the bomb we save lives, it's that simple."

"Jay's right. We don't have time to argue about priorities, we need to get in there and do the job," Thermite agreed, "Let's go!"

They followed behind Thermite and stacked up against the steel door of the loading bay. Thermite placed his breaching charge and they did not have to wait long for it to cut through the metal.

Once the door blew in the operators snapped around the corners, taking the people inside by surprise, despite them being prepared. It was a short gunfight before Thermite declared the area clear and Blitz checked one of the crates that they had been moving.

"Looks like they're planning to put bombs around the entire city!" He exclaimed, picking up one of the canisters carefully.

"All the more reason to clear this place out," Thermite gestured for the team to move on and continue the sweep.

Blitz went first with his shield, triggering the flash at the first patrol of Masks they found. With four quick shots the patrol was down and the Rainbow operators continued.

The sweep of the first floor, a maze of machinery and storage crates, continued methodically and without incident, the team wiping out any White Masks they came across. Still the building was large and it took them half an hour to declare the floor clear and move up to the offices on the second floor.

In an atrium-like area, Jay spotted what must've been the boss's office, it had a large window overlooking the floor, which was more of a balcony area, allowing a view of the first floor as well. The glass in the window appeared long-since broken and it was covered by old, yellowed, plastic blinds.

Jay moved into his place at a single noise and, with the size of the building, the team agreed to split up to clear the floor before regrouping at the atrium.

It only took ten minutes before each team reported their sections clear and they regrouped and moved for the stairs to the third floor office.

The entirety of the third floor only took up about a third of the room, allowing most of the second floor exceptionally high roofs. There were only three rooms on the floor as well. A reception area in the same room as a sitting space, a bathroom, and a large office. Of course, the bathroom also had a janitorial closet.

Jay knew that because apparently that was where the man holding him with a knife to his throat had come from.

Jay held up a hand to stop his teammates from taking a shot, "C'mon man… think about what you got to gain from this…" he urged, a hand on the arm holding the knife, "You kill me my guys take you out. You threaten me more, I know at least two of them are accurate enough to drop you without endangering me…."

"Shut up!" The man hissed, dropping the knife in favor of wrapping his arm around Jay's throat and threatening him with a pistol instead.

He was nervous, "It's not too late man… drop the gun, let me go, and come with us…"

Jay could feel the tension in the man behind him and he kept a hand out to assure the team that he had the situation under control.

"And why should I trust _you_?!" He demanded, pressing the barrel of the pistol into his temple.

"Because it's the only way you come out of this alive," Jay answered smoothly, "You got no reason to believe they won't shoot you as soon as you let me go, and honestly a few of them probably would, but I'm not gonna let them. You have my word as a medic, I came here to save lives, not take them…"

There was a tense silence and a few of the team shifted nervously, Jay put his hand down. "Thermite, you should probably go deal with the bomb… 'fore it goes off and none of us make it out of here. And for the love of god don't go alone. I have this under control, don't worry."

Thermite hesitated but lowered his weapon and nodded, tapping Lion and Blitz to go with him as they left.

Jay grunted and tapped the arm around his throat, "Hey man… getting a little hard to breathe here…"

Slowly, the arm relaxed and the clatter of a weapon hitting the ground echoed through the room. The man stepped back away from Jay and Jay turned as the man pulled his mask off.

"I…" The man started nervously, "I never wanted this…" he admitted.

Jay nodded and rested a hand on his shoulder, "It's alright, no harm done." _Yet_ … "My team's gonna get the bomb defused and then we're out of here."

"They'll come for me…"

"Not with us watching your back they won't," Jay nodded, and moved towards the door.

Doc stopped him, "That was _reckless_."

"Maybe. But it worked, didn't it? No one got hurt, we have a new friend who I'm sure has plenty of information for us," Jay shrugged, "As the engineers say: if it looks stupid but works, it's not stupid."

"You're a medic not an engineer…"

"It's just wisdom Doc, the field doesn't matter." With that Jay left the bathroom and moved across the large room to the office, where Thermite and the others were making progress on the bomb.

Thermite looked up at his arrival, "Negotiation went well I take it?" He chuckled, "How'd you know he wouldn't just kill ya?"

Jay shrugged, "He was shaking. And he knew I was right when I said that it was the only way he'd come out of it alive."

"Well sure, but why d'you care what happens to him?" The Texan responded.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because he was threatening to kill you?" Blitz remarked from his place half leaning half sitting on the large desk in the center of the room.

Jay shrugged again, "He was scared and desperate, don't act like you wouldn't have done the same in his situation."

Lion huffed a chuckle, "I think I see why Six recruited him now."

Jay looked at the Frenchman with a raised eyebrow.

" _Foolhardy_ compassion and _naive_ trust in people," Lion answered the unasked question.

"Or maybe it was the fact that he was able to stay so calm?" Jäger suggested plainly, "And the fact that he passed Caveira's RTI course? Remind me how many people have done that?"

"Four, excluding him, she's brutal," Thermite answered, standing up and brushing off his hands, "Alright, that should do it. Law enforcement should be here any minute to take it away."

* * *

The team arrived back on base without much trouble. The hostages were all safe and being tended to, the bomb was in pieces, and the authorities had taken the bomb canisters they'd found in the loading bay and disposed of them.

All that was left was debrief and getting their plus one seen to.

"And who is this?" Six asked, her gaze turning from Thermite to the man standing beside Rainbow's newest medic.

Jay stepped up, "Mark Ross, _former_ White Mask." He answered sharply, he'd promised the man that he'd be safe with them, "He's not a threat, ma'am."

Six hummed thoughtfully, "I wasn't aware one could be a 'former' White Mask…"

She didn't believe him, Jay stiffened, cast a look at the teammember by his side and looked squarely back at the screen where Six was patiently waiting for his response, "He saved my life," Jay was a terrible liar, _except for when it mattered_ , "I was separated from the team and ambushed, Ross intervened in the nick of time…"

He could feel seven pairs of eyes boring into him at the lie as Six considered it, studying the young medic.

"He said he'd been coerced into service for the Masks," that much, at least, was true, and Jay held Six's stare.

"Alright," Six nodded after a long moment, "Get what information you can from him and send me the report. Dismissed." And then the call ended and the screen went blank.

Jay turned to the rest of the team, to face their stares.

"Why did you lie for him?" Lion wondered.

"I don't make promises I can't keep," Jay answered simply, "I promised he'd be safe with us and I'm gonna do _everything_ in my power to make sure he is."

Ross himself seemed stunned, "You…. you didn't have to do that…."

Jay looked at him, "Of course I did. Now… let's get that report done." He gave Ross a smile and left, the man following him almost in shock.

* * *

A week later Ross had arrived safely home. He wasn't a military man by any means and Rainbow's operations were still classified. So he'd been sent home to his family under the cover story of having bought his way out of the Masks. Dokkaebi and Mute had erased any evidence of his existence from any database they could find the Masks had access to. Ross and his family would be safe. As an extra precaution, authorities had been informed of the situation, and the family was monitored and guarded, albeit very subtly.

Some of the information they had gotten from him had been instrumental in stopping the terrorist activity in the area Ross had been assigned to. Jay would count it a win, despite the _what-if_ nightmares that had stolen most of his sleep along with the usual ones.

He yawned for the umpteenth time and Doc looked over at him from his desk. Mercifully, he said nothing and continued with his paperwork.

Eventually, Jay was able to get some missed sleep back, and his routine was back to normal. Sleep, wake up before anyone else, take a run, shower, and then his day went as expected with training, meals, and work in the infirmary. The dark circles under his eyes came back and he went back to covering them up with makeup to keep people from questioning how little sleep he _actually_ got.

He was sent on a few other missions, clearing the Masks out of strongholds, rescuing hostages, disabling bombs, mostly without incident. Of course all bad things could not be avoided, and sometimes they came back with wounded, but he'd yet to lose any lives, civilian or otherwise. He was commended for that 'excellent service', though Jay was sure _someone_ had exaggerated _something_ , because all he had done was his job, and that wasn't something he expected thanks for.

Weeks passed and Jay settled well with the team, lecturing Thermite whenever he came in with burns, spending late nights with the infamous insomniac of the team, Jackal, teaching him how to draw, for lack of anything better to do, learning French from Rook, and generally ensuring his team stayed in top condition. And, of course, trying to ignore Doc and Lion's frequent arguments.

Honestly, Jay thought Doc, of all of the operators, would be _least_ likely to act this way. He expected Doc to be more understanding, loss was a part of their job, it happened, they couldn't save everyone it was impossible. Sure they always tried to, it was their job, but it was a job doomed to failure. And Lion… he was an enigma to Jay, he never drank with the others, and that Jay could understand, he didn't care for alcohol himself, but as much as Lion seemed not to care… he was _always_ there. When Montagne had gotten hurt, Lion had been there in the infirmary, asking about what had happened and what Jay had done to try to stop it. And then he was gone. Jay found him later, leaving the base's chapel. A photo he couldn't see clutched in one hand, a silver cross necklace in the other. For all Lion's cold exterior and arrogant behavior, Jay could see what he really was. It did not diminish his opinion of the man, that he hid a heart of gold under such a cold attitude. Jay had tried to do that himself once, he'd failed miserably, he didn't know how to pretend he didn't care.

So, knowing what he knew about both men, Jay didn't believe that either man hated the other, and he pointedly ignored their arguments.

The arguments, however, never stopped. Even when they were assigned to the same team. It was him, and the rest of the GIGN, plus one spetsnaz: Doc, Lion, Rook, Twitch, and Montagne, with Glaz on overwatch.

 _ **Oop. Okay so we've established the circumstances, Jay's character, and his dynamic with the rest of the team. Jay is someone who cares about people, a lot. He'll give just about anyone the benefit of the doubt. Will that bite him in the ass? Maybe. We'll see.**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**And here we are. I'm trying to keep this story fairly short, but knowing me after I 'finish' it I'll end up coming back and adding even more to it so… I guess we'll see. As it stands I'm only planning one or two more chapters after this one. Thanks to Coffee Monsta for your review.**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_

They were in Paris, not far from where Doc had grown up, apparently. There was a bell tower across the wide open courtyard from the target building, Glaz was roosting in the top of it.

So far, all they knew was that the Masks had a hostage. Someone important to someone in the French government. That was the extent of their knowledge aside from Lion's initial scan. The scan revealed patrols along fourteen floors, with the most activity in the penthouse floor, the second from the top. The fifteenth floor was empty as far as they could tell.

The couldn't grapple that far, and they didn't want to infiltrate somewhere in the middle and be pinned between the Masks.

There were a lot of floors to clear and a lot of people on each one separating them from the hostage. Each second that ticked by after they began their assault was another second the White Masks had to fortify, execute the hostage, or escape with them through the roof access and a chopper. So they wouldn't assault. They'd go in the back, power had already been cut by law enforcement in the area, and they'd go quietly, clearing each floor as quickly and quietly as possible. Of course, that element of stealth and surprise would only last so long. These people weren't amateurs, they'd be on the wire with each other and the moment one of them failed to check in the building would be on lockdown and the terrorists on alert. It was a precarious situation to say the least.

They only made it to the third floor before a surprised Mask let loose a few shots from his unsilenced rifle as he died. The push was loud from there. Shouts echoed down the hall, people yelling into their radios about being attacked. Nothing they could do about that now, the remaining eleven floors would be ready for them.

So they pushed behind Montagne, Twitch scouting ahead around corners with her drone, Glaz covering them through the windows.

They made it up five more floors before Jay took a hit to the gut, shattering the trauma plate Rook had provided, but causing no other damage thankfully. He was fairly sure the others had also taken hits that broke the plates. It was fine, that's what they were there for, if not for them their mission would probably be over now, and not in a good sense. The push was hard and grueling, these people weren't rookies and had fortified their positions well.

A few times they had to move back a pace or two and fortify themselves, with Montagne living up to his namesake, providing an immovable object against a rapidly failing force. Le Roc covered him head-to-toe, and then some, and Montagne was not a small man. The famed shield held and they pushed through the final five floors before they paused at the stairs to the fourteenth to reload and prepare.

Lion scanned with his drone and shook his head, "No movement detected."

Twitch set her drone and sent it up the stairs. The masks were ready and shot at the first sign of movement, disabling Twitch's drone. Twitch cursed in French and muttered under her breath.

"So we don't know what we're going in to…" Rook commented blandly.

Montagne eyed him briefly before putting a hand to his earpiece, "Glaz, you got eyes on?"

"I see the hostage. Female, probably around her mid twenties… she's guarded by two men. I can see the shadows of three more, they've got barricades."

Monty dropped his hand and looked at Rook, "Now we know what we're going into."

Rook shrugged and nodded in satisfaction.

"If we are ready?" Doc pulled attention to him and gestured towards the staircase, "We have a young woman to save."

Jay nodded at him and got into his place to Lion's right, behind Montagne who was taking point, as usual.

They reached a door at the top of the stairs, with a hostage inside and no clue how close or far from the door she was they couldn't just blow it in. So Lion kicked the lock out, immediately pivoting back behind Montagne's shield as the door swung open violently.

A few shots were fired and Montagne caught them with his shield, extended to full mass to protect his team. Doc threw a smoke grenade over his shoulder and they waited a moment for the cloud to build before pushing in, quickly eliminating any and all hostiles in the room.

The smoke cleared and the operators froze in surprise to see the woman on the floor, whimpering and crying in pain with a bullet in her shoulder.

Doc cursed and knelt beside her as his teammates double checked the room, everyone but Jay moving off to clear other rooms in the penthouse. There was _something_ telling him to _look, act, stop this_. He cast a look over Doc and his eyes widened at the red dot on the white band of his helmet.

Jay didn't have time to think. He barely had time to _act_. He shoved Doc down. He never heard the shot. His knees buckled and he went down. Jay didn't remember hitting the ground.

The next thing he was aware of was something wet trickling down his stomach. He was laying in a puddle of it. _Water? Sweat?_ Jay touched a hand to the wet spot on his stomach. He could feel the wetness even through his Kevlar plate carrier. It was slick… too thick to be water… Jay lifted his hand to his face. _Blood. He'd been shot._

He dropped his arm and looked to his left side. Lion was holding Doc back forcefully. Doc's mouth was moving but he couldn't hear. He felt like he was underwater, everything felt so…. distant. His eyes shifted to Rook, concern and fear etched in his face. Montagne was against the wall, a hand to the comm in his ear, his mouth was moving too, but Jay still couldn't hear. Twitch was distracting herself from the situation by repairing her drone, but Jay could see her anxiety. Her screwdriver kept slipping.

His eyes shifted back to the window. A red light flashed across his eyes, making him wince. _Sniper._ Jay understood now why Lion was keeping Doc back.

 _He was the sniper's bait._

He could hear Doc's voice now, but he couldn't make out the words. Now it _sounded_ like he was underwater. Maybe he was? He looked over at the older medic. Lion was still keeping him back. Lion was looking over his shoulder at him now. Jay couldn't see his face under his mask, but he _could_ see the conflict in the man's eyes. He wanted to _help,_ he didn't want Jay to die, but he couldn't help he'd get shot, Doc would get shot if he let him go, he _couldn't help,_ and Jay could see that he desperately wanted to.

He faced the window again. The older medic didn't need to see the pain in his face. Snipers were patient by trade. Whatever happened now he'd bleed out, if anyone tried to save him they'd be shot.

Montagne's voice came into focus next, this time Jay could put together pieces of what he was saying, "Gla-… -iper. 'Vac n-…"

Jay stared at the ceiling. He was _tired._ And cold. His eyes were heavy and his limbs felt like lead. Maybe if he just took a nap….

He opened his eyes, not realizing he'd closed them, to see Doc above him, white gloves stained red. He could feel something in his throat… a tube, it was attached to the bag in the corner of his eye. He shook his head slowly but someone stopped him and held his head still, there was something soft under it, cushioning him from the floor. A trauma blanket was tucked around his shoulders and upper chest, but he could feel cold air on his stomach. His chest ached and there was a tinge of electricity in it. He'd been shocked. Jay looked at Doc again. The defibrillators were missing from their normal place in his chest rig. _He'd died._

He had a vague sense of being moved, people around him shouting orders at each other, hands flying over his body, checking his wound and vitals. And then…. nothing. Almost as if he were simply asleep.

* * *

... …

…

He woke up slowly, there was a steady beeping to his left. Jay had heard it enough times to recognize the beep of a heart monitor. It took him a while to gather up the energy to open his eyes and when he did he quickly shut them again against the harsh light of the hospital room. He slowly blinked them open, adjusting slowly to the light. He reached a hand up to his face to brush a tickle away, only to find that the tickle was the tube in his nose feeding him oxygen.

There was an IV in his hand and Jay followed the tube up to the IV bag full of clear liquid. Jay guessed from the floating feeling that it wasn't just saline.

He heard a door open and tried to push himself up on his elbow, only to be stopped by a painful pull in his gut that stole his breath and left Doc pushing him back down by the shoulder.

"I am glad to see you're awake, mon ami, but please, you'll reopen your wound," Doc commented, patting his shoulder, "What do you remember?" he asked gently.

Jay grunted, "Sniper... The-There was a red dot… on your helmet…" His voice was quiet and strained, "I pushed you out of the way and got hit… after that it's bits and pieces."

Doc nodded thoughtfully, "You could've died."

"And?" Jay questioned, "You _would've_ died if I hadn't."

"The sniper used you as _bait_."

"I remember that," Jay responded, with a small nod, "I remember Lion holding you back to keep you from getting shot too. I remember thinking I was probably going to die."

Doc sighed, "You _did._ Your heart stopped _twice_ before we got you stable."

"I remember not being afraid," Jay added simply, "I didn't have _time_ to think it through, Doc, and somehow I knew as soon as I moved that I wasn't gonna be okay."

Doc spared him a look from checking the IV bag and heart monitor before pinching the bridge of his nose, "You saved my life and nearly lost yours…"

Jay shrugged, "One injured operator is better than one dead one."

Doc quirked a brow at him and shook his head, sitting down in the chair beside the bed, "Jay you are not less important than anyone. Your life is not worth trading for mine."

"Wasn't trading lives," Jay argued, grunting as he shifted uncomfortably, "Was saving yours."

Doc sighed again and stood up, "It was reckless. I appreciate it, but it was reckless and we nearly lost you."

Jay opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by a yawn and a coughing fit that left him grimacing in pain, one hand going instinctively to his wound.

Doc rested a hand on his arm and pushed him back down again, "Try to breathe normally…" he straightened up as Jay got his breath under control, "Rest. I will go find a nurse and get you something for the pain…"

"Wait," Jay stopped him, light residual coughs making him pause, "Where are we?"

"Still in Paris, you weren't in any condition to make it any further than this hospital. My sister is around here somewhere actually," Doc gave a small smile, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and left, but of course not without throwing another order to _rest_ over his shoulder.

Jay rolled his eyes and settled back into the mattress. The drugs in his system provided a very quick slip into a very deep sleep. His nightmares left him undisturbed and Jay never noticed the others from the team coming in to see him, or the nurses adding pain medication to his IV. Or Doc and Lion arguing in the hall.

 _ **Whew. Well that happened. I guess that's it for this one. Next chapter things may or may not culminate. . …. . Whale, that's all I got. See ya next chapter.**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Here we are again. Last time we saw Jay take a hit for Doc and he nearly died. Now they're at a hospital in Paris for a bit and apparently Doc's sister works there *eyes emoji*. Can I also just say that I am absolutely floored by how much you all seem to be enjoying this? It may or may not be my best work, I'm not really sure, but damn thank you guys so much for the support! Another big thanks to Its demeanor (Guest) and Dolame55 (AO3) for your reviews!**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_

When Jay woke up again there was a nurse making notes on a clipboard, chatting in French with… Jay looked to the side, Doc. Doc looked at him then back at the nurse.

"C'est un copain," Doc said, standing and moving to look over the nurse's shoulder at the notes. _(He's a friend)_

She rolled her eyes, "Gustave _je t'ai dit_ -" _(Gustave I told you-)_

Doc raised his hands in mock surrender and backed off. Jay chuckled. He guessed this was Doc's sister.

She looked down at him and helped him to sit up slightly, "How do you feel?"

"Like I got shot…" Jay answered blandly, almost out of breath, "Can't complain though…" she raised an eyebrow at him and he shook his head, "A bit sore… still a bit… _hazy_. A little hard to breathe… But overall not bad."

She nodded, "Bon, you should recover nicely. There was a," she paused, seeming to look for the English word for what she was saying, "fair amount of muscle damage, but it should heal in time. Provided you do not do anything stupide."

Jay frowned at her and opened his mouth to argue, but she cut him off, " _Non_ , my brother told me you are a médical, I know how _insensé_ you all can be."

Jay shut his mouth and Doc laughed, Jay glared at him. Doc only chuckled more. _Nurses were not to be tested._

Jay rolled his eyes before looking back at the woman, "How long was I unconscious?"

She paused, looking confused for a moment before his words seemed to click, "Oh. Mmm," she checked her notes, "You woke up about eighteen hours after you arrived here."

Jay nodded. Eighteen hours. No wonder he felt so drowsy and… _slow._

She passed him a small plastic cup with two little white pills in it, and another filled halfway with water, "Take these, then you may visit with your team. Gustave," she turned to her brother, "Assurez-vous qu'il repose." _(Make sure he rests)_

" _Bien sûr,_ " Doc answered, sounding as if he thought it was something he didn't need to be told. _(Of course/Obviously)_

Jay took the medicine without complaint and the two little cups were disposed of and then he and Doc were alone.

Doc faced him, "Her English is not perfect, she doesn't practice it as much as I do." He shrugged, "Do you feel up for company?"

Jay thought for a moment and nodded, "Sure why not."

Doc left to retrieve their teammates. He was not gone long and when he returned he was accompanied by Rook and Montagne.

"I figure we start slow," Doc explained, "You may feel up to it, but it is easy to get overwhelmed after an injury like this."

Jay rolled his eyes, "Yes, Doc, I _am_ still aware of the finer details of _my job._ I got shot, not concussed," he looked over at Rook and Montagne, "It's good to see you two."

Rook smiled and started chatting after Montagne greeted the wounded medic.

Jay nodded along to what Rook was saying, glad for the distraction, he was beginning to feel restless, "I take it the others are alri…" he trailed off, suddenly remembering something, the monitor blipped faster and Doc put a hand on his shoulder, "What happened to the hostage?"

"She's okay," Montagne assured, "She was treated here and returned to her family, who is now under close guard."

Jay breathed a sigh of relief and the monitor's blipping slowed, "Good...good." He sat back at Doc's prompting, "The others?"

"Unharmed," Montagne answered again.

Rook rested a friendly hand on his arm, "Don't worry, mon ami, we are all in perfect health."

Jay nodded his thanks. The brief spike of anxiety and panic had exhausted him, but he was still determined to see the others as well. The three left and he was joined by Twitch, Glaz, and Lion.

Twitch hugged him lightly, Glaz gave him well-wishes, but Jay could see the guilt he was hiding. Jay thumped his arm and assured him that it _most definitely was not_ his fault and that he was ridiculous for thinking so. That had earned a chuckle. Lion simply nodded at him and left. The others told him not to take it personally, but he waved them off, he didn't anyway, he understood, on some level, where Lion was coming from.

He was alone again and he yawned, Doc returned, told him to rest, and left again. Jay sighed, it wasn't like he had much choice. He fell asleep easily again with the help of the drugs he was being given.

* * *

Another day passed before Jay was able to fully sit up without hurting and he was free from the damn IV in his hand. At the moment he was listening to Doc and Lion argue from where they thought he couldn't hear _or_ understand them. They were wrong, of course, Jay wasn't _great_ at language, but he'd slowly been learning the French Rook was teaching him. From what he did know, Doc and Lion's 'conversation' was none too friendly.

Jay tried to distract himself by sketching. It did not work. He sighed and set his sketchbook down on the bedside table.

He struggled to understand why they disliked each other so much. What little French he'd been able to learn so far helped him determine that they were arguing about what had happened with the sniper. Which didn't make much sense, there was nothing for _them_ to argue about. He could understand them scolding and arguing with _him,_ but each other? It just didn't make sense. They switched into words Jay didn't understand and he knew they were talking about the Ebola crisis again.

He sat listening to them for a few more minutes before hauling himself up.

" _Enough,"_ Jay shoved the two apart, "You two _have got_ to _stop_ ," he aimed a glare at both of them, "Lion, you're allowed to care, we know you do, you wouldn't _be here_ if you didn't, you wouldn't argue back if you didn't. Doc, you have to stop blaming him. You lost friends, I get it, I do, but blaming Lion isn't going to make you feel better and it's not going to bring them back. You don't _honestly_ think Lion _wanted_ them to die, do you?"

Doc leveled a glare back at Jay, "And what to you know? You have only been a medic for a few years how could you _possibly-"_

" _Do not presume to know what I have and have not seen,"_ Jay cut the older medic off, a hand coming up to cover his wound as it ached, "I know loss… _intimately._ I know the pain of losing the ones you love. And I know that blame and anger _don't help._ They just make it worse," Doc simply looked at him, but didn't respond, Jay could see he was considering the words, but didn't quite believe him, "Of all people… I thought _you_ would be _least_ likely to hold a petty grudge against someone who is not to blame."

Doc held his eyes a moment longer before his eyes cut down, "Merde," he cursed, grabbing Jay's elbow, " _You're not supposed to be up_ ," he scolded, guiding him back inside the room and down onto the bed.

Jay huffed, "You should listen to him more y'know… instead of blaming him for something that wasn't either of your faults."

Doc paused in his checking Jay's wound and sighed, "You don't know what happened, you weren't there."

Jay shrugged, "Don't have to know. What I _do_ know is that this grudge between the two of you has to stop."

The Frenchman sighed and straightened up, "What _do_ you know, mm? What makes _you_ the authority on who I do and do not blame."

"I know loss and pain, Doc," Jay replied, "Life of a medic right? You can't save everyone, no matter how hard you try. You could lose anyone anytime, and it wouldn't be anyone's fault, but _damn_ if it doesn't feel like it's your own. I know it's easier to blame someone else, be angry, and resent them. But it doesn't _help,_ and you can't hate them for trying to keep you safe…"

Doc narrowed his eyes and sat down, "You are talking about yourself… aren't you…" he asked softly.

Jay sighed and avoided looking the man in the eye, "I've only ever lost one life, Doc… but it was the most important person _in_ my life… and I _watched him die."_ His voice broke off into a pained whisper and he balled the sheets in his fists, keeping his eyes down on his lap.

Doc rested a hand on one of his and Jay relaxed his hands with a sigh, "It was my fault… I could've blamed my team for dragging me back, for not giving me an extra _second_ to _do something,_ for not letting me go back… I would've died beside him. Hell I _wanted_ to, even weeks, _months,_ after, I still wished they had let me go… but he died saving my life… so I lived, I got up, I made an effort to be okay, and I kept saving lives. Because the man I loved died to make sure I could…"

When Jay met Doc's eyes again they were drowning in hurt, "I never even got to say goodbye…" he faced forward and took a breath to compose himself before looking back at Doc, "So Doc… I believe I _know_ loss and pain. I know your pain, and I know you want to blame Lion. But it's not going to make you feel better. All you can do is get up, hold them close, and live the way they would want you to. And I don't think that involves holding a grudge against someone who did nothing wrong."

Doc sighed and looked away, "That is… easier said than done…"

"I know…"

"How did you get so wise so young?" Doc asked after a long moment with a slightly amused smile, he was trying to lighten the mood.

"I loved, lost, and lived."

Doc gave a forced smile and stood, patting Jay's shoulder lightly, "Rest, mon ami…"

"And you practice forgiving someone who never asked for it," Jay replied steadily, folding his arms comfortably over his middle.

Doc left without another word. Jay watched him leave before realizing Lion had followed them in. Jay almost scolded himself for being so out of it to not notice the broad Frenchman standing to the side.

"You do not have to defend me…" Lion said quietly, approaching slowly.

"I know." Jay replied, "You can defend yourself just fine. But I believe he needed to hear it from an uninvolved source. Holding that kind of grudge isn't healthy, and you both know it." He sat forward stiffly, wincing as his injury pulled.

Lion stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back, "Non, I will not incur the wrath of the Kateb siblings if you reopen your wound." He saw what Jay was reaching for and handed him the cup of water from the overbed table.

Jay rolled his eyes and accepted the assistance, "Thanks…" he said, taking a slow sip.

Lion gave a slight nod in response, "I remember Rook asking you about a lost love… The story you told Kateb… was that _him?_ "

Jay sighed and handed the cup back, it was set on the table and Jay gestured for his sketchbook, it had been tucked away in his pack during the mission, "Yeah…" his voice was barely above a whisper as he took the sketchbook, "It still hurts y'know…?" He flipped the book open, gingerly turning pages until he got to a blank one and picked up his pencil.

Lion was silent for a long moment, watching the point of the pencil hover over the page, "... _Oui…_ I know that loss as well… it may not be quite the same as yours, but pain is pain I suppose. I lost mine to the stupid mistakes of youth, but at least I was able to mend the relationship after she moved on…"

Jay started sketching, jotting down the rough form of a man's face, "You don't have to talk about it. I'll listen if you'd like to, but you have no obligation here."

"And you had no obligation to intervene between Kateb and I." Lion responded steadily.

Jay shrugged and kept sketching absentmindedly, not really sure _who_ he was drawing. "Like I said: holding that kind of grudge isn't healthy." The eyes he detailed were sharp, meeting the viewer's gaze unwaveringly.

Lion sat in silence, watching him draw, keeping him company. Jay smirked. He _knew_ Lion cared. Lion was the kind to be quiet and passive about showing his care, but Jay saw what he wasn't saying. Lion had _noticed_ his tension at being alone, Lion was keeping him company because he _knew_ Jay hated being alone.

They sat in silence and Jay's sketch turned into Lion. Sharp features, mane of carefully styled hair, sharp eyes, a face that looked so passive, but the light of _concern_ and _care_ in his eyes.

"You are very talented," Lion complimented, looking over Jay's shoulder at the sketch.

"I know anatomy," Jay shrugged a little, "That plus steady hands and practice equals pretty good looking portraits."

Lion nodded, "May I see more?" He asked curiously.

Jay made a noncommittal sound and shrugged one shoulder, flipping through the book to a page filled with sketches of flowers on one side, and a face on the other. His lines were fairly rough, suggesting he'd either not finished them or had trouble remembering certain details and was lacking a good enough reference. But Lion had seen something on the previous page before Jay had turned it. He wasn't sure _what_ exactly he'd seen, but from what he _did_ see it was… _grotesque,_ like something out of a nightmare.

Lion looked at Jay curiously, but the medic was too focused on studying his own art to notice the look. The pieces were not hard to connect, and Lion did not have to ask whether this face was his lost love. The face was much like his own, in the emotion it expressed despite just being graphite on paper. Physically, they were very different. This face was not as sharp as his own, the hair was darker as well, and the eyes… it looked as if Jay had taken extra care around them, like he was trying to _remember_ the love in the man's eyes, and there was so much of it, Lion nearly felt his chest ache for the loss when Jay closed the sketchbook.

 _ **And there we are. I have no idea what I'm doing after this, my the extent of my plans covered up to Jay stopping the arguments between Doc and Lion. Soooo…. I may or may not continue this more? Idk what to do from here so if you have ideas shoot 'em at me.**_

 _ **Thanks for Reading, Fly High Aim Higher**_

 _ **~Spitfire out**_


End file.
